


Duty

by refusetoshine



Series: Season One [8]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 10:36:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21117365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/refusetoshine/pseuds/refusetoshine
Summary: Sometimes personal duty comes before professional duty, as Jean-Luc realizes when he breaks the Prime Directive to save Wesley from execution.





	Duty

**Author's Note:**

> Based on 1x08 - Justice.

Picard sat in his ready room, thinking about his violation of the Prime Directive. Overall, he agreed with the Prime Directive and he understood its importance, but in some situations, like the one with the Edo, he felt the personal duty outweighed his professional one. 

The ready room door chime sounded, breaking the captain from his reverie.

“Come,” he bellowed.

Beverly Crusher walked through the door and over to the captain’s desk.

“I never thanked you for saving my son’s life, Jean-Luc.” she said, “So, thank you.”

Picard looked at the doctor with a pained expression.

“Beverly, sit down please,” he asked.

She sat in the chair across from the captain. He could sense her apprehension.

“Beverly,” he began, “As Starfleet Officers, it is our duty to follow the Prime Directive to the letter.”

“Not this again,” she complained, rolling her eyes.

“Let me finish!” he commanded. 

Gaining his composure, Picard continued.

“I have found that sometimes on a mission, our personal values override this duty.”

Picard looked into the kind blue eyes of the doctor. He knew that she knew this all too well. To her, the oath as a physician came before all, even the Prime Directive. It had got her into trouble, but it had also saved a lot of lives. Her selflessness to those in need was something he admired about her.

“Beverly, while it is a duty of mine as a Captain to ensure the safety of my crew, I must admit, there were some personal feelings here,” he confessed, “I already cost you the life of your husband. If Wesley had been executed, I don’t think I could’ve lived with myself.”

“Jean-Luc,” she whispered, reaching for his hand. 

He could feel the emotion building to the surface. It was always this way with the Crushers. They had a history and he was trying to repair the link to it, piece by piece.

“I promised Jack that I would take care of you and Wesley if anything happened to him,” he remarked, “I know I’ve done a terrible job of it in the past ten years, but I want to fulfill that promise.”

Beverly let go of his hand and came around to his side of the desk. He turned his chair to face her. She knelt and kissed him on the cheek. Pulling away but still kneeling, she spoke.

“I think what you’ve done in the past few months for us has more than made up for it.”

Smiling, she got up and walked out of the ready room. Picard got up and looked out the window at the stars passing by.

_I hope you agree Jack_ he thought.


End file.
